Dynamic Earth, Prentice Hall Science, 1994,1993
Contributing Writers: Linda Densman, Linds Grant, Heather Hirschfeld, Marcia Mungenast, and Michael Ross
Earth Science, Grade 7, ages 11-12, Chapter 3, Plate Tectonics
Learning Goal:
ESS1 (5-8) POC –3
Explain how Earth events (abruptly and over time)
can bring about changes in Earth’s surface:
landforms, ocean floor, rock features, or climate.
3a Evaluating slow processes(e.g. weathering, erosion, mountain building, sea floor spreading) to determine how the Earth has changed and will continue to change over time.
What does this standard mean?
The Earth's continents are drifting; from Pangaea (one land mass) to present continent positions
Wegener's Theory of Continental Drift, based on fossil and rock formation.
Location of continents on Earth affects climate (weathering, erosion)
What prior knowledge do students need to know to understand the standard?
The Earth's layers
The Earth's crust floats on the mantle
The mantle is made of rock that flows slowly
Density
Downward force of crust and upward force of mantle/balance - isostacy
Present postitons of continents
What misconceptions might students have around the topics contained in the standard?
The human time scale/geological time scale
Fossils are actual preserved plant or animal parts
The Earth is round like a pancake and we live on the flat, middle of a sphere
Sighting that pertain to criterion:
Page 54, Photograph taken from space: Arabian Peninsula and northeastern Africa. Two pieces of a giant puzzle?
Figure 3-1 page 57, Fossilized leaves of the extinct plant Glossopteris that have been found in Souther Africa, Australia, India and Antarctica.
Figure 3-2 page 58, Biological Mystery. Why green sea turtles living near the coast of Brazil lay their eggs on a distant island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean?
Global Map page 58, indicates the locations of glacial deposits, matching folded mountains, and coal deposits
Figure 3-3, page 58, Matching Rock Formation. Red Sandstone in Utah, but red sandstone is formed only in deserts near the equator. What does this imply about the location of Utah in the past?
Activity, page 56. Putting the Pieces Together. A small group activity. Students are asked to tear a newspaper into a few large sections and trade them with a friend. They are then asked to try to put them back together. It asks them how the lines of print help them to confirm that the pieces are reassembled correctly and how this activity relates to the theory of continental drift.
Activity, page 58. Pangaea. Students use a globe and paper to trace the shape of each continent, Madagascar, India and the Arabian Peninsula, then cut and try to piece them together as they may have looked before the break up of Pangaea. They are asked to use the directions of plate movement (shown in Fig. 3-8) as a guide. Attach their version to a sheet of paper and compare their versions with classmates.
Figure 3-4, page 60. Diagram of midocean ridges
How does ocean-floor spreading relate to continental drift?
Figure 3-6, page 62. Reversal of the Earth's magnetic poles. Page 172Activity Bank - Going Their Separate Ways creates a model to shows how ocean-floor spreading works.
Figure 3-7, Diagram showing how ocean floor is created and destroyed.
Reading Activity: For further investigation, the text suggests reading After Man, Dougal Dixon for his vision of how the world will look in the future.
Calculating Activity, page 65. Traveling Cities: How many meters does LA and San Francisco have to travel before they meet?
Discovering Activity, page 66. Fill a pan with water and place it over a heat source. Add several drops of food coloring, and observe. Add several balsa wood blocks in the center of the heated water. What happens to the blocks and how do the observations relate to the theory of plate tectonics?
Providing variety of phenomena. Does the material provide multiple and varied phenomena to support the key ideas? Indicators of meeting the criterion
Phenomena could be used to support the key ideas.
Phenomena are explicitly linked to the relevant key ideas.
The text provides multiple and varied phenomena to support the key ideas. Rating excellent.
Providing vivid experiences. Does the material include activities that provide firsthand experiences with phenomena when practical or provide students with a vicarious sense of the phenomena when not practical? Indicators of meeting the criterion
Each firsthand experience is efficient (when compared to other firsthand experiences) and, if several firsthand experiences target the same idea, the set of firsthand experiences is efficient. (The efficiency of an experience equals the cost of the experience [in time and money] in relation to its value.)
The experiences that are not firsthand (e.g., text, pictures, video) provide students with a vicarious sense of the phenomena. (Please note that if the material provides only firsthand experiences, this indicator is not applicable.)
The set of firsthand and vicarious experiences is sufficient.
The material includes activities that provide several firsthand experiences with phenomena when practical and provide students with a vicarious sense of the phenomena when not practical. The Biological Mystery of the green sea turtle is one living example to support continental drift and provides students with a vicarious sense of the phenomena. Rating excellent.
Representing ideas effectively. Does the material include accurate and comprehensible representations of the key ideas? Indicators of meeting the criterion
Representation is accurate (or, if not accurate, then students are asked to critique the representation).
Representation is likely to be comprehensible to students.
Representation is explicitly linked to the real thing.
This text includes accurate and comprehensible representations of the key ideas. Using the activities listed above will give the students a better understanding of key ideas. Most representations are explicitly linked to the real thing.
Thinking About My Teaching:
The only drawback that I can see it that these activities are very time consuming. Time needs to be considered when a teacher only has 50 or so minutes of class time. Many of these activities could be assigned as homework, and shared by students with class discussion. The activity with boiling water could be done at home with adult supervision, with a class discussion following the next day. I could provide each student with an observation sheet to record what they see happening. The reading activity could be done over a certain period of time. The students could reflect on this reading with their writing journals.
Contributing Writers: Linda Densman, Linds Grant, Heather Hirschfeld, Marcia Mungenast, and Michael Ross
Earth Science, Grade 7, ages 11-12, Chapter 3, Plate Tectonics
Learning Goal:
ESS1 (5-8) POC –3
Explain how Earth events (abruptly and over time)
can bring about changes in Earth’s surface:
landforms, ocean floor, rock features, or climate.
3a Evaluating slow processes(e.g. weathering, erosion, mountain building, sea floor spreading) to determine how the Earth has changed and will continue to change over time.
What does this standard mean?
What prior knowledge do students need to know to understand the standard?
What misconceptions might students have around the topics contained in the standard?
Sighting that pertain to criterion:
- Page 54, Photograph taken from space: Arabian Peninsula and northeastern Africa. Two pieces of a giant puzzle?
- Figure 3-1 page 57, Fossilized leaves of the extinct plant Glossopteris that have been found in Souther Africa, Australia, India and Antarctica.
- Figure 3-2 page 58, Biological Mystery. Why green sea turtles living near the coast of Brazil lay their eggs on a distant island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean?
- Global Map page 58, indicates the locations of glacial deposits, matching folded mountains, and coal deposits
- Figure 3-3, page 58, Matching Rock Formation. Red Sandstone in Utah, but red sandstone is formed only in deserts near the equator. What does this imply about the location of Utah in the past?
- Activity, page 56. Putting the Pieces Together. A small group activity. Students are asked to tear a newspaper into a few large sections and trade them with a friend. They are then asked to try to put them back together. It asks them how the lines of print help them to confirm that the pieces are reassembled correctly and how this activity relates to the theory of continental drift.
- Activity, page 58. Pangaea. Students use a globe and paper to trace the shape of each continent, Madagascar, India and the Arabian Peninsula, then cut and try to piece them together as they may have looked before the break up of Pangaea. They are asked to use the directions of plate movement (shown in Fig. 3-8) as a guide. Attach their version to a sheet of paper and compare their versions with classmates.
- Figure 3-4, page 60. Diagram of midocean ridges
- How does ocean-floor spreading relate to continental drift?
- Figure 3-6, page 62. Reversal of the Earth's magnetic poles. Page 172Activity Bank - Going Their Separate Ways creates a model to shows how ocean-floor spreading works.
- Figure 3-7, Diagram showing how ocean floor is created and destroyed.
- Reading Activity: For further investigation, the text suggests reading After Man, Dougal Dixon for his vision of how the world will look in the future.
- Calculating Activity, page 65. Traveling Cities: How many meters does LA and San Francisco have to travel before they meet?
- Discovering Activity, page 66. Fill a pan with water and place it over a heat source. Add several drops of food coloring, and observe. Add several balsa wood blocks in the center of the heated water. What happens to the blocks and how do the observations relate to the theory of plate tectonics?
Providing variety of phenomena. Does the material provide multiple and varied phenomena to support the key ideas?Indicators of meeting the criterion
- Phenomena could be used to support the key ideas.
- Phenomena are explicitly linked to the relevant key ideas.
The text provides multiple and varied phenomena to support the key ideas. Rating excellent.Providing vivid experiences. Does the material include activities that provide firsthand experiences with phenomena when practical or provide students with a vicarious sense of the phenomena when not practical?
Indicators of meeting the criterion
The material includes activities that provide several firsthand experiences with phenomena when practical and provide students with a vicarious sense of the phenomena when not practical. The Biological Mystery of the green sea turtle is one living example to support continental drift and provides students with a vicarious sense of the phenomena. Rating excellent.
Representing ideas effectively. Does the material include accurate and comprehensible representations of the key ideas?
Indicators of meeting the criterion
- Representation is accurate (or, if not accurate, then students are asked to critique the representation).
- Representation is likely to be comprehensible to students.
- Representation is explicitly linked to the real thing.
This text includes accurate and comprehensible representations of the key ideas. Using the activities listed above will give the students a better understanding of key ideas. Most representations are explicitly linked to the real thing.Thinking About My Teaching:
The only drawback that I can see it that these activities are very time consuming. Time needs to be considered when a teacher only has 50 or so minutes of class time. Many of these activities could be assigned as homework, and shared by students with class discussion. The activity with boiling water could be done at home with adult supervision, with a class discussion following the next day. I could provide each student with an observation sheet to record what they see happening. The reading activity could be done over a certain period of time. The students could reflect on this reading with their writing journals.